Thursday, January 10, 2013

Jobs for fresh/low hour pilots in 2013 and beyond

It’s New Year and 2012 has been such an amazing and
fantastic year for me as well as all my readers in flygosh especially those of
you who got a job as a Pilot and Cabin crew. Seeing some of you flying today are
the greatest satisfaction I had and worth every bit of my effort setting up flygosh
to help you all.

I hope you manage to achieve whatever goals you set last
year ( I know I did ) and achieve more this year with all your new resolution
for 2013.

This is my first post for the year and I am excited to share
with you especially on upcoming Pilot/Cabin crew jobs. Last year we manage to
put hundreds of Pilot into the cockpit flying in Indonesia. Special thanks to
Mr.Arif ( Director of Avia) and the rest of the team in avia who have been
working very hard helping people to make their dream come true.

We use to hire pilots in Malaysia and Indonesia but have
expanded throughout the world namely India, Dubai, Paris and Amsterdam.

As usual, since this is the new year, a lot of you asked me
whether should you invest money on a type rating, pilot Jobs outlook for 2013 and beyond and any slots or vacancies
coming up.

I will start with the pilot industry. Bear in mind that this
is solely base on my own opinion since I hire them and know first hand info on whats
happening behind the scenes.

Pay to fly will be the de facto method use by airlines
especially “some “ low cost carriers to hire new pilots. It use to be only
paying for the type rating but certain airlines are asking you to pay right
from zero hours. Jetstar and Tiger airways are some of the airline who practise
that. You can see the info here Jetstar
Cadet Pilot and Cadet
Pilot - Tiger Airways.

I know everyone hate it but sadly, that is how the industry
will be and is here to stay. But before you complain, you must understand the
reason behind it. Oil prices are soaring and as I am typing this, many airlines
especially the European region are closing down or going bankrupt.

Airlines will find whatever ways to cut cost and asking
pilots to pay is one of them. The second reason is to protect themselves. In Indonesia
for example, it use to be free and their rating paid for but a lot of expat
abuse the system. Once they get the rating and hours, they just ran away to their
home country. We all know that ratings are not cheap and always remember that an
airline is to make money, not a free school offering you scholarship and lose
money in the end.

So before you complain, put yourself in the airline’s shoe
and imagine yourself as the boss. However the good news is if you are a local citizen,
normally you will still be sponsored though it is changing now. For example, malindo
has been reported in the news asking all new hired pilots to pay for their rating
and line training even though they are locals. You can read about it here
.

In the eyes of the airline, it’s a win win situation. They
get to save cost and you get to gain experience.

A lot of people accuse that pay to fly pilots are rich kids
who are useless and can’t fly. In my personal opinion, I do not think that is
the case. There are simply not enough slots for jobless pilot and obviously not
everyone can be invited. I know because at the moment I have 4000+ pilots in my
database and some are really good pilots, just that they never have the chance
to be invited. Like some of you mention to me, “certain” sponsored students got
in because of their connection and race and not base on their capability.

One point I want to make is, I am not justifying pay to fly
and I hate it too. After all, who doesn’t want free lunch?But this is how the industry is now and no
point complaining on things which is beyond our control and focus on things
which are within our control that I am sure all of you will agree.

Let’s move on to aircraft rating. Majority of you ask me
whether is it better to take a B737 or A320 rating. I would say go for whatever aircraft that you
like to fly ( unless there is a job guaranteed after you obtain the rating ).
If you prefer airbus you take airbus and vice versa. As for me, it doesn’t matter
what aircraft type so long I get to fly and I am lucky to be flying a boeing
jet today. Both rating are marketable especially in Indonesia since we have so
many B737 and A320 operators here.

Now let’s go to the important topic of pilot job outlook for
2013 and beyond as that is the biggest headache for the entire thousands of jobless
pilot out there. We all read that there is a pilot shortage and there is a need
for hundreds of thousands of pilot in the coming years. Honestly, I think all
that is bullsh*t.

If journalists are not paid to write rosy stuff, who will
enrol into flying school or TRTO to get rating? All their business will
collapse. Like i have mention earlier, plenty of airlines are closing down
especially in the European region and the market is flooded with experience
pilots with thousands of hours. I am getting so many resume from experience
pilot and even they themselves are finding a hard time to get a job.

The latest
casualties are from Singapore Airlines. You can read the news here.
Captain are asked to take unpaid ( read no salary) leave and if a major airline
like Singapore Airline, one of the most biggest and profitable airline in the
world can do this, you have an idea how the smaller ones will survive in this
tough industry.

That is why there is the pay to fly thing going on, is
either they save cost and get some pilots flying, or close down and no pilot jobs
at all.

They mention that airlines are ordering many aircraft and
new planes hence the need for extra pilots, of course they will be extra slots
but with so many experience pilot flooding the pilot, where are the jobs for
freshies? Plus like the case of Malaysian Airlines, yes they are getting many new
planes but they are also retiring many old plane and have excess pilots now.
Even then their excess pilots are being send to fly in Indonesia as secondment.
Another example is Silk Air which intends to replace all their A320 with B737.

Also bear in mind that the new orders of hundred of aircraft
is not coming in overnight and it may take few years before they can be delivered.

The good news is, we have upcoming slots for CPL/low hour
and also those rated with zero hours on type. But the number of slots is
getting smaller and smaller as in the last few years, so many foreign pilots
fill up all the vacancies in Indonesia. It use to be a common thing to fly to Indonesia
and go directly to the airline office to get a job. Now at this point of time,
that is not possible anymore and wasting your time and money unless you have
connection or know someone inside.

But the amount of jobless pilots keep increase daily with
them graduating almost every month from flying school around the world. I still
remember it takes me few weeks to get a recruitment event to be filled up last
time, today I only need few hours before we are fully booked.

I know what I am saying above is not really a good piece of
news especially for the start of the year since everyone love to hear rosy and
beautiful painted story that there are tons of job around. I am not saying
there are none, just that it is limited and it is becoming a challenge to get
your first airline job especially for freshies. Some says that it is important
to stay positive which is true but I suggest you want to add a thing called “reality”.
Staying positive and being reality is too different thing.That is exactly why so many invest a lot of
money in their CPL and rating and end up jobless. Remember, nobody put a gun in
your head and you can only blame yourself for not doing your research and being
ignorant.

I am not saying don’t do it since
like myself, no matter whether the industry is good or not I will still chose
to become a pilot as I can’t imagine myself doing any other jobs. It’s a challenge
and I waited 2 years after flying school before I got my first job. So if I can
do it, so can you. In fact as all of you know by now, I am giving people the opportunity
to become a pilot , something which I have never imagine I will do so since I
was once in your shoe, a jobless pilot knocking doors around the world looking for opportunity.
I am not blowing my horn here but today I have to politely decline offers and
seriously life can turn out to be awesome when you least expect it ! ( provided
you have a positive mindset and take action ).

What I wrote above may not please some of you, after all we can’t
please everyone right?. Look you can complain and procrastinate which in my
dictionary, that is wasting time and a pilot job can never drop down from the
sky or you can chose to take action under whatever circumstances and make the
best out of it. Honestly, if I can, I will invite everyone ( 4000+ in my
database ) and hope all of you become a pilot. But you and I know that is not
possible as there are limited slots. Their first priority is always their own
local citizens first. Just like Malindo, their newly recruited pilots must all
be 100% Malaysian. That’s why the best way is to try your home country airline
first if that is possible.

For those of you who are considering taking up piloting as a
career, make sure you have done your research and have all the financials in
place. It’s an awesome career and worth every effort to be where I am today.
Also, please consider taking up a university degree before you embark your
career as a pilot. I spend 4 years in university before I fly and it is
important to use your degree as a backup in case ( touch wood ) your pilot
career fail or “yet” to take off !

With that said, I want to take this opportunity to wish you
a wonderful year for your success in 2013.

As you may already be aware that I have max out my
facebook 5000 friends limit therefore to continue to get updates on
latest news and jobs opportunity for both pilots and cabin crew,
you can LIKE the Fly Gosh Fan Page by clickingHERE

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